WyzeCam Is the Best $20 Security Cam You Never Heard Of

The folks over at Wyze Labs have been offering a surprisingly popular and cheap security camera for quite some time. And now there's a second version for the same affordable price.Credit: Wyze LabsWyze Labs is now selling the Wyze Cam v2, an updated version of the company's first version. The Wyze Cam v2 is a full-fledged security camera that comes with 1080p HD video recording and the ability to tag motion. But arguably its most attractive feature is its $20 price tag — a fraction of what you'd pay for competing devices like the Nest Cam or Amazon Cloud Cam.

The Wyze Cam v2, which was earlier reported on by The Verge, is available now for pre-order. In addition to the 1080p video recording, the Wyze Cam v2 has a new CMOS sensor that will allow it to capture video day and night. It also comes with a Class-K audio power amplifier to capture ambient sound. A microphone is included, so you can communicate with those by the camera.

The audio features are intelligent enough to recognize the difference between spoken word and things like an smoke alarm and CO monitor. When it identifies one of those alarms, it sends you a notification to alert you to the emergency.

According to Wyze Labs, the camera's motion tagging feature works with both live streams and recorded content. Speaking of that recorded content, the Wyze Cam v2 delivers 14 days of cloud storage for free. All of that content is stored in Amazon's AWS, where it's encrypted, according to Wyze Labs. You can also store some content to a microSD card you can plug into the Wyze Cam v2.

Like other security cameras, the Wyze Cam v2 will connect to your phone and send you notifications when it detects motion and sounds. There's also the option to daisy chain three Wyze Cams together via USB, so you only need to use one power adapter.

All of those features you'd expect to find in a higher-end camera. But the fact that they're available in a camera that costs just $20 is impressive. Stay tuned for our full review.